What are the best ways to speed up your website for SEO?
Slow page loading times are only one of the many on-page search engine optimisation (SEO) metrics that can negatively impact on your ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). It also has a seriously negative impact on user experience (UX).
Google estimates that a page loading time goes from one to three seconds before a website visitor abandons the site before it finishes loading. The slower your page takes to load, the more likely your website visitor will abandon your site out of frustration. Google wants their users to have the best experience, which is why they made page loading speed a ranking factor.
This means that if you want your website to rank well for your targeted keywords, you need to monitor your page speeds. Remember, page speed refers to an individual web page, while website speed refers to the speed of different pages across your site. It is important to have well-optimised page speeds throughout your site.
There are numerous on-page and off-page elements that will impact your page load speed. If your pages are taking too long to load (more than two to three seconds), it could be caused by:
CSS files enable you to showcase your brand imagery on your website with a unique layout and style. JavaScript brings your website to life with interactivity. Both improve browsing experience, but negatively impact your loading times. JavaScript also has a reputation of causing rendering issues, making it harder for search engine crawlers to crawl and index some of the content on your site, which negatively impacts your ranking on SERPs.
Plug-ins are valuable resources that provide functionality and interactivity to your page. At the same time, too many plug-ins can slow down loading times. Outdated and poorly maintained plug-ins increase security risks and compatibility issues.
High quality images can improve your website content, making it engaging and appealing to your visitors. At the same time, large images increase loading times, especially if you have numerous large images. Unoptimised images are one of the many contributors to slow speeds. The larger the file, the longer your website visitor waits for it to load.
Pop-ups are used to direct traffic to your landing page or deliver call to actions (CTAs), but they are known to load down loading times. You need to determine if your pop-ups are effective and if they are worth the slowdown of your website.
There are a number of things you can do to optimise the speed of your website for SEO:
Are you struggling with your website speed? At Genie Crawl, we offer a free evaluation and quote to improve your SEO efforts. Backed by years of experience, our boutique digital marketing agency can help you improve your the speed of your website, offering a positive impact on your SEO in the long run. Contact us today to find out more.
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